As students settle into classrooms and dormitories, faculty return from research trips, and off-campus folks visit for fall events, they might notice that Wellesley is looking particularly spiffy. Thanks to large numbers of hardworking staff at the College, the campus has been paved, painted, and pruned to be at its best for the academic year ahead.

Project highlights from summer 2013 include:

Re-sodding the green of Tower Courtyard (pictured) prepares one of Wellesley’s iconic buildings for students’ arrival. It required six workers, three days, and an entire 18-wheeler full of sod to finish the job.

Have you noticed the Academic Quad looking sharp? A team of workers repaved the formerly frost-heaved walkways in July. They succeeded in the delicate task of resetting the six historic limestone medallions that memorialize buildings that once stood on the Academic Quad, also known as Norumbega Hill. “One medallion states ‘These medallions commemorate the buildings which formerly stood on Norumbega Hill,’” said service manager Jack McCarthy, “and the other five pay tribute to Norumbega, Freeman, Wilder, and Wood Halls, as well as the Farnsworth Art Building.”

Painting is another key part of the renovation and upkeep of the campus buildings. More than 250 residential spaces have been freshly painted—including rooms in Pomeroy, Shafer, Cazenove, and Stone Davis res halls—as well as academic spaces such as Pendleton Hall.

Over the summer the Margaret Clapp Library got a new roof on the south and west parts of the building, and the Zeta Alpha house was clad in a new roof as well.

Science E125 is the lab of Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Media Arts & Sciences Orit Shaer, and it now has a whole new look. “Donor funds were used to transform this space into an active, energetic research space for Orit Shaer’s work,” said McCarthy. To do this, the hall wall was replaced with a glass wall, in addition to new lighting and furniture. Take a peek next time you’re in the Science Center!

The aluminum panels on the side of the Mary Cooper Jewett Arts Building were removed and cleaned, while the steel that supports the panels was scraped, primed and painted. The panels serve as sunshades for the intriguing 1958 building, and cleaning them ensures the building will stay intriguing for years to come.

Fall and winter will bring new projects and maintenance work; in the last lush green of summer, the Wellesley community is especially thankful to those who make it such a beautiful place to be.